‘People don’t value free resources’
The Delhi government will soon set up a regulatory body to streamline the water management system and may bring a legislation to put in place several stringent norms to prevent the wastage of water.
Chief minister Sheila Dikshit said that the government was very sincere in improving the water management system and the regulator would be on par with power regulator Delhi Electricity Regulatory Commission (DERC).
Addressing a seminar, Ms Dikshit said, “At the moment, Delhi is facing a difficult and critical situation with regard to water. Existing water laws are ambivalent and there is need for a strong legislation. We are currently in the process of setting up a water regulatory body on par with the DERC.”
“India is rather spoilt. People don’t pay for most resources they use, as a result they don’t value what they get. Once you make people pay for every drop of water they use, they will learn to value it more,” Ms Dikshit, who is also the chairperson of the Delhi Jal Board (DJB), said.
Echoing the chief minister’s views, Delhi chief secretary P.K. Tripathi said, “People have lost value for water. Law is the only force that can bring back respect for the resource. Unless water is priced people won’t value it.”
“Water must be priced on par with electricity and it should not be priced according to the whims and fancies of the public but by an independent regulatory system which is not swayed by emotional consideration,” Mr Tripathi said.
Stating that Delhi was in an “odd situation” as most of the resources are “borrowed” from the neighbouring states, the chief minister stressed the need to check wastage of water.
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